A Pie of Their Own

McClain’s Pizzeria brings Idaho pizza to Spokane

Pizza and beer— the grand combination. And Spokane just got more of it with the opening of McClain’s Pizzeria on the north side.

The pizzeria, nestled in Whitworth Square with O’Doherty’s and Wasabi Bistro and Sushi Bar, opened in June. Owners Mi-Mi and Matt Heilman worked at Subway for many years as manager and general manager of 10 locations, but knew they wanted to be owners.

“It’s my own,” says Mi-Mi Heilman of McClain’s. “It’s nice to wake up and go to work and do it for ourselves.”

McClain’s is the second of its kind. McClain Balmer is Matt Heilman’s friend, who owns McClain’s Pizzeria in Hailey, Idaho. The original McClain’s opened with pizza recipes from Balmer’s family’s pizzeria in Roslyn, Wash.

The pizza dough at McClain’s is made fresh daily with a secret ingredient and topped with Galbani mozzarella cheese from Italy that has been sold in the U.S. for only a year.

“We knew these recipes were amazing and no one else in Spokane had these,” Mi-Mi says.

The Roslyn is one of their most popular pizzas, made with Canadian bacon, cashews, minced garlic and artichoke hearts. They also make pizzas without marinara sauce. The Buffalo Chicken has buffalo wing sauce and the Greek, with spinach, olives, red onion and feta, is moistened and flavored with olive oil.

A long bar wraps around the oven that can bake 20 large pizzas at once. Customers can watch as the dough is formed and tossed and order a drink from McClain’s full bar.

McClain’s also has 12 beers on tap. The staples — Budweiser, Coors Light and Blue Moon — are there to stay but the others will be rotated heavily, Mi-Mi says. They are currently pouring Roslyn Lager a namesake beer from the town in which McClain’s recipes originated.

Happy hour is from 9 pm to close with $2 pepperoni or cheese pizza slices and $2 domestic beers. There is also a lunch special: two pizza slices and a soda for $5.

And if you sit down and are wondering why there’s honey on the bar, you’re supposed to add it to your crust. Balmer’s family came up with this idea to add a tinge of sweetness to the pizza and the Heilman’s have brought it over to Spokane.